Biden Trades Russian Convicted of Major Drug Smuggling for Release of Jailed US Marine
Former Marine Trevor Reed, whose parents launched a high-profile effort to have the Biden administration free their son, has been released, according to the White House.
Reed, who had been in a Russian prison since 2019, was exchanged for Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian citizen who had been sentenced to 20 years in prison after being arrested in 2010 as part of a $100 million cocaine smuggling operation, according to Axios.
Biden said the exchange “required difficult decisions that I do not take lightly.”
“I’m going to try not to cry, because he doesn’t want me to cry,” mother Paula Reed said Wednesday, according to CNN.
“Obviously, I’m going to cry a little bit, give him a big hug, and just, you know, give him hugs,” she said.
Trevor Reed’s release from a Russian prison, in exchange for Konstantin Yaroshenko, will give renewed hope that U.S. Olympic champion/WNBA Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan will be released in the future.
But only a one-for-one swap between Russia & U.S. https://t.co/Xnn6V1Rb3A
— Andrew Jerell Jones, Luke 1:37 (IG:twdbk3) (@sluggahjells) April 27, 2022
Paula Reed said the family spoke to both their son and Biden by phone after the release.
Reed was sentenced to nine years for assault on a police officer, which his family says is a trumped-up charge. The family wanted to meet with Biden when he visited their hometown of Fort Worth, Texas, to promote his achievements. Biden did not meet with them then, but the family said he promised a meeting would take place.
After time passed with no result, Reed’s parents launched a protest at the White House.
The Reed family thanked Biden “for making the decision to bring Trevor home,” according to Fox News, and thanked Bill Richardson, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, too. The family said Richardson went to Russia to help make the case for their son’s release.
“He was essentially in solitary confinement, I believe, for over a year in a pretty bad prison,” Joey Reed, Trevor Reed’s father, said. “Once he got to the labor camp … they would wake him up every hour. You know, they were punishing him for different things.”
Earlier this month, Joey Reed said his son’s health was “deteriorating.”
“We’re very concerned about his health,” Paula Reed said then.
“An active case of [tuberculosis] isn’t good, and the conditions in the prison are horrible, and the fact that they put him back in solitary confinement is really worrisome for us because we’re just worried about his health,” she said.
[Day 985] #TrevorReedFree.
Thank you President Biden & so many others inside & outside the USG for your help and support. We will update everyone as we learn more. (For Press Contact @jonfranks). pic.twitter.com/tV44fbIafr— Free Trevor Reed (@freetrevorreed) April 27, 2022
“Trevor had some sort of injury where he thinks he might have a broken rib. Plus, he has all the symptoms of active tuberculosis. He went to a prison hospital for about 10 days. And then they didn’t treat him. They took an X-ray that didn’t work,” Joey Reed said, according to CNN.
“And when they brought him back to his prison, he said, ‘I need to go back. I’m still hurt and sick.’ And they put him to solitary confinement again,” Joey Reed said.
Last May, Trevor Reed was diagnosed with COVID-19.
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